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3.14 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 8 7
By Mary Chellis Austin
Photos by Chris Witzke
Loop 22
THE SPREAD
2222 Dundee Road
882-3279
Open Monday through Saturday 5-10 p.m.
"Y
ou'll have to excuse me; I haven't had cofee yet," Eric
Morris says after emerging from the kitchen at Loop
22, located in Douglass Loop of Bardstown Road. Te
space used to house the Pink Door, a noodle-and-tea-place-turned-
nightclub, and then briefy housed the Corner Door, a pub-fare
joint with live music. Morris and I are sitting at the bar of a dark,
empty restaurant at noon on a gloomy January day. Cafeinated or
not, he is used to restaurant schedules. "I've always kind of been
in kitchens," the 32-year-old says. "I grew up washing dishes. Just
kind of worked my way up. I never went to school or anything."
Te Louisville native cooked with chefs Adam Burress and Chase
Mucerino at Seviche and stayed with them through their openings
of Hammerheads and Game.
While he was at Game, the carnivore's paradise on Lexington
Road, Morris had an idea for another restaurant. "I came up with
this concept and was looking around for investors," he says. "I
approached Adam and Chase. I already had the building in mind,
already had this place all lined up, and they backed me. It's huge
what they did for me. All I could really ofer up was my concept
and my time." He says the Southern-style rotisserie concept at Loop
22 derives from his love for Louisville's Southern cuisine. "With
Hammerheads, we did the smokehouse deal. I think we wanted to
take that one step further and still take the idea of slow cooking,
but bring another equation into that. So we thought, rotisserie: the
other side of barbecue," he says.
Te menu includes dishes such as rotisserie ducks and chickens
by the half or whole, chicken and dumplings, and lobster-chorizo
queso. Tough these guys are known for their meat, they also
serve vegetarian fare, such as wild-mushroom polenta with charred
radicchio and a nutmeg reduction, and a veggie roulade with grilled
asparagus and sage beurre blanc.
In the three years since Hammerheads opened, all three
restaurants seem to have gained a cult following. "I think the key to
the success with all these restaurants is being consistent. We all have
a fne-dining background; we know how to cook those really bold
favors and make pretty presentations, but it's keeping everything
fresh and bold," Morris says. "A lot of people like to play it safe, but
what's helped us is that we give as much favor as we can."
Burress and Mucerino are partners in the restaurant for now
(and you might catch them cooking in the back), but Morris says
they're mainly investors. Mucerino says that he and Burress plan
to take the next year to perfect all three restaurants — including
adding a Sunday brunch at Loop 22 — before jumping into any
other projects. "We've kicked around a lot of ideas," Mucerino says,
adding that he'd rather not mention specifcs because nothing is
set in stone. "Tey have two restaurants to run; they're very busy,"
Morris says. "Tese guys are very ambitious. Adam can tell you, he's
got other things in mind that he wants to do. I'm holding the fort
down here."
84-120 BACK.indd 87 2/20/14 12:20 PM